Andria "Andi" Petrillo (born April 9, 1980) is a Canadian sports broadcaster. She became the first-ever female member to serve on a full-time basis with the ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

'' studio team.

Early life and education

Petrillo's parents immigrated to Canada from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. She graduated from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

with degrees in English and Mass Communications, as well as earned a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from

Seneca College Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, branded as Seneca Polytechnic since 2023, is a multi-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccala ...

Career

When she was 19, Petrillo began volunteering at her local television station, Rogers Cable

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional ...

in Ontario, Canada. She worked behind the scenes on various shows from sports, news, and politics, to entertainment. Finally, Petrillo was given an on-air opportunity on the magazine show 'York Region Living,' where she hosted the restaurant segment. Petrillo has often joked about her first on-camera gig: "Figures, as someone of Italian heritage, my first opportunity would come as a restaurant reporter. I got paid in food!" Petrillo's role began to grow at the station and in 2004 the title of Sports Host and Producer became available. The station manager at the time, Lisa McClean Stellick, wanted Petrillo as her sports host, but was met with some push-back by some executives who were concerned about having two women at the desk for the nightly newscast, as the main news host was Jennifer Buchanan. McClean Stellick prevailed and in 2004 Petrillo became the sports host and producer for York Region. She covered various sports and found her niche in hockey where she hosted a weekly live Junior 'A' hockey broadcast. In 2006, Petrillo joined

Leafs TV Leafs Nation Network (formerly Leafs TV) was a Canadian English language Category B regional specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. Leafs Nation Network broadcasts programming related to the Toronto Maple Leafs Nation ...

(owned by

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(MLSE)) and served as a reporter for broadcasts of games featuring the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

and their

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

affiliate, the

Toronto Marlies The Toronto Marlies are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The Marlies are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, a c ...

. With

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, she had the opportunity to do some freelance work such as sideline reporting for the 2008

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

championship game. Petrillo's role expanded under MLSE, and she began working on their other television stations:

NBA TV Canada NBA TV Canada is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). It is the Canadian version of NBA TV, broadcasting programming focused on the National Basketball Association, and ...

and

GOL TV GOL TV is an American TV sports channel dedicated to soccer owned by GOLTV Inc., based in Coral Gables, Florida. The network broadcasts Liga 1 and Campeonato Uruguay matches. The network was among the first to start a trend of bilingual bro ...

Canada as host and reporter for the Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC games. In 2010, Petrillo travelled to Haiti on behalf of MLSE to deliver supplies after the earthquake. She then went to Afghanistan, along with former NHL players and the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

to help lift the morale of the soldiers. Petrillo joined ''

'' for the 2011-12 NHL season and hosted the iDesk portion of the broadcast, becoming the first female to serve on a full-time basis with the ''HNIC'' studio team. She anchored CBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia, and the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

. Petrillo then joined ''

NHL Tonight ''NHL Tonight'' (formerly ''NHL on the Fly: Final'') is the flagship show on the NHL Network in Canada and the United States. The show made its debut under its current title in December 2011. It airs nightly at 6:00 pm throughout the NHL season ...

'', the flagship show on the NHL Network in Canada and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, for the 2014-15 NHL season. On October 24, 2015,

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

Sports launched a new show, ''Road to the Olympic Games'', which Petrillo co-hosts with veteran sportscaster Scott Russell. On February 18, 2016, it was announced that Petrillo joined TSN as the new radio voice for ''

Leafs Lunch ''Leafs Lunch'' was a sportstalk show on TSN 1050 and simulcasted on TSN4. At the time of its cancelation, the show was hosted by Julia Tocheri and Michael Distefano. The show aired between 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm in the Toronto radio m ...

'' on

TSN 1050 CHUM (1050 kHz) is a Canadian AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned and operated by Bell Media. CHUM's studios are co-located with TSN at 9 Channel Nine Court in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Scarborough (with auxiliary ...

, finally becoming the first-ever woman in Canada to have her own daily sports talk radio show. On September 14, 2021, Petrillo announced that she was stepping down from the radio show. She also joined the analysis team for

OneSoccer OneSoccer is a Canadian Association football, soccer-oriented List of sports television channels, sports channel and subscription streaming service. The service was first established in 2019 as part of a 10-year agreement between Canadian Soccer ...

in 2019. Petrillo was a pre-game host for

MLS Cup 2016 MLS Cup 2016 was the 21st edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), played on December 10, 2016. The association football, soccer match was hosted at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and contested by Tor ...

. She won the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

for Best Sports Host at the

10th Canadian Screen Awards The 10th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 4–10 April 2022 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2021. The presentations were held as a ...

in 2022.Brent Furdyk
"Canadian Screen Awards: Winners Announced In Sports Programming, Digital & Immersive Categories"
''

ET Canada ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'' (commonly shortened to ''ET Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series that aired on the Global Television Network from 2005 to 2023. Its branding and format were based on the American entertainm ...

'', April 5, 2022. In April 2024, Canadian NHL broadcast rightsholder

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

announced that it had struck a deal to shift a portion of its rightsspecifically the Monday night games played in Canadafrom its own ''

NHL on Sportsnet National Hockey League broadcasts are held by Canadian media corporation Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Sports & Media division, as well as the Sports ...

'' broadcast to

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

for the and regular seasons. In September, it was announced that Petrillo and Adnan Virk would co-host the pre-game, intermissions and post-game portions of '' Prime Monday Night Hockey'', which launched with a game in Montreal on October 14, 2024.

Personal life

Since 2012, Petrillo has been married to former

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

goalie

Jon Conway Jonathan David Conway (born May 6, 1977) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper and former goalkeeping coach for Toronto FC. Youth and college Born in Media, Pennsylvania, as a youth, Conway played club soccer for the Lower Merion Gorillas, ...

Awards and honours

*2012 Woman of Influence Award (presented at the CIS Women's Basketball Final 8) *2016

for Best Sports Host in a Sports Program or Series for her work during CBC Sports' coverage of the 2015 Pan American Games. *2022 Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Host for her work on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. *2022 George Gross -Don Goodwin Award. Outstanding Sports Broadcasting. First woman to be given this award *2023 Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Host for her work on the 2023 Beijing Olympics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrillo, Andi 1980 births Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian television sportscasters Canadian women television personalities CBC Television people Living people National Hockey League broadcasters Mass media people from Toronto Seneca College alumni York University alumni Canadian Screen Award winning sportscasters